APA Style (7th Edition) Citation Guide: Magazine/Newspaper Articles

Magazine/Newspaper Article From a Website

Magazine/Newspaper Article From a Library Database

Magazine/Newspaper Article In Print

Magazine/Newspaper Article with an Unknown Author

Note: All citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent in a Reference List.

A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.

This Microsoft support page contains instructions about how to format a hanging indent in a paper.

Not sure whether your article is from a newspaper? Look for these characteristics:

• Main purpose is to provide readers with a brief account of current events locally, nationally or internationally.
• Can be published daily, semiweekly or weekly.
• Articles are usually written by journalists who may or may not have subject expertise.
• Written for the general public, readers don't need any previous subject knowledge.
• Little, if any, information about other sources is provided.

Articles may also come from journals or magazines.

Author

If an item has no author, start the citation with the article title.

If, and only if, the article is signed "Anonymous", put the word Anonymous where you would normally place the author's name.

Cite author names in the order in which they appear on the source, not in alphabetical order.

Titles

Italicize titles of journals, magazines and newspapers. Do not italicize or use quotation marks for the titles of articles.

Capitalize only the first letter of the first word of the article title. If there is a colon in the article title, also capitalize the first letter of the first word after the colon.

Dates

If an item has no date, use the short form n.d. where you would normally put the date.

If an original publication date and a last updated date are provided, use the last updated date. If the more current date is "last reviewed" instead of "last updated," use the original publication date (since the review may not have changed the content).

Retrieval Dates

Most articles will not need these in the citation. Only use them for online articles from places where content may change often, like a free website or a wiki.

Page Numbers

If an article has no page numbers provided, leave that part of the citation out in the References List.

If an article doesn't appear on continuous pages, list all the page numbers the article is on, separated by commas. For example (4, 6, 12-14)

Books, Journals, Reports, Webpages, etc.: When you refer to titles of a “stand-alone work,” as the APA calls them on their APA Style website, such as books, journals, reports, and webpages, you should italicize them. Capitalize words as you would for an article title in a reference, e.g., In the book Crying in H Mart: A memoir, author Michelle Zauner (2021) describes her biracial origin and its impact on her identity.

Article or Chapter: When you refer to the title of a part of a work, such as an article or a chapter, put quotation marks around the title and capitalize it as you would for a journal title in a reference, e.g., In the chapter “Where’s the Wine,” Zauner (2021) describes how she decided to become a musician.

The APA Sample Paper below has more information about formatting your paper.

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication, Month Day if Given). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Newspaper. URL

Note: If the article is on continuous pages put a dash (-) between the first and last page numbers. If the article appears on discontinuous page numbers, give all page numbers separated with commas between them.

Example:

Brody, J. E. (2007, December 11). Mental reserves keep brain agile. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/11/health/11iht-11brod.8685746.html

Note: This entry has no page numbers, so this information is left out of the citation.

In-Text Paraphrase:

(Author's Last Name, Year)

Example: (Brody, 2007)

In-Text Quote:

(Author's Last Name, Year, p. Page Number if available)

Example: (Brody, 2007)

Note: This entry has no page numbers, paragraph numbers, or section headings so this information is left out of the in-text citation.

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication, Month Day if Given). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Newspaper, SectionPage if Given. 

Note: For newspaper articles from library databases, include the newspaper title and any volume/issue/page numbers that are provided. Do not include the database information.

Example:

Kidd, K. (2011, August 7). Cart blanche: City of Portland celebrates sidewalk dining with minimal rules for food carts. The Toronto Star, A5.

In-Text Paraphrase:

(Author's Last Name, Year)

Example: (Kidd, 2011)

In-Text Quote:

(Author's Last Name, Year, p. Page Number if available)

Example: (Kidd, 2011, p. A5)

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication, Month Day if Given). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Newspaper, SectionPage.

Note: If the article is on continuous pages put a dash (-) between the first and last page numbers. If the article appears on discontinuous page numbers, give all page numbers separated with commas between them.

Example:

Schwartz, J. (1993, September 30). Obesity affects economic, social status. The Washington Post, A1, A4.

In-Text Paraphrase:

(Author's Last Name, Year)

Example: (Schwartz, 1993)

In-Text Quote:

(Author's Last Name, Year, p. Page Number)

Example: (Schwartz, 1993, A1)

Title of article: Subtitle if any. (Year of Publication, Month Day if Given). Name of Newspaper, SectionPage.

Note: If an author's name is not given, do not include an author in the citation; however, if the article is signed "Anonymous," then use "Anonymous" in place of the author's name. 

Example:

Get on board for train safety. (2012, June 17). The New York Times, A14.

In-Text Paraphrase:

("One, two, or three words from the title", Year)

Example: ("Get on board", 2012)

Note: Choose one or more words from the title, enough to clearly identify the article. Use double quotation marks around the words from a title of an article in the in-text citation.

In-Text Quote:

("One, two, or three words from the title", Year, Page Number)

Example: ("Get on board," A14)

Note: Choose one or more words from the title, enough to clearly identify the article. Use double quotation marks around the words from title of an article in the in-text citation.